At The Movies: Shazam! Fury Of The Gods
As a teenager in the 80’s, keeping myself entertained was not like today’s tech. I recall being surrounded by stacks of comic books & the ones that bought out the imagination in me were the superheroes. From the DC universe comic pile, we had different looks, powers, fictional realms & stories that would have me wanting to know more about who, where, what & why. To me, that was enough to drown out my mum’s voice calling out my name!
In the first movie, we were introduced to Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who by fate was chosen by a Mystical wizard as the Champion of earths realm. When Billy says the name of the champion, he transforms via a bolt of lightning into one in the same, Shazam (Zachary Levi).
With the defeat of the Villain in the first film, Shazam turned & shared his power with five of his foster home family members. This opened the door for a new adventure.
The story begins with the villains. Three sisters of the God Atlas, Demi-god Hespera (Helen Mirren) Anthea (Rachel Zegler) & Kalypso (Lucy Liu) who use their powers to unleash a weapon that would put the Earth in danger.
Shazam along with all our heroes band together to fight them so once again mortals & gods live side by side in peace. The action is fierce, violent & funny. There are two moments of hat tipping to the original TV Series. No spoilers here, so see if you can figure them out.
During the film we are treated to many funny, often silly moments that one would expect from teenagers. But there are some real heartwarming moments of family bonding, inclusion & solidarity that made this film very enjoyable to watch. Director David. F. Sandberg got it just right.
The mix of humour, well placed wit, light horror, ancient Dragons & Greek Mythological monsters along with special DC guest appearance like the first film at the end.
In my opinion, this film anchors itself as a strong DC universe film that has some exciting new instalments coming in the not-too-distant future. Recommended family friendly viewing, so go see it & taste the rainbow!
Movie Review By Peter Pap
